Autopoiesis and self-sustainability in economic systems

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Zeleny, Milan

Affiliations: Graduate School of Business Administration, Fordham University at Lincoln Center, New York, New York 10023, USA. E-mail: zeleny@mary.fordham.edu

Abstract: A newly emerging organizational mode shifts our thinking from the traditional vertical hierarchy of command to horizontal patterns of market-oriented networks of autonomous agents. This organizational mode is characterized by self-management, autonomy and self-sustainability, the trio of prerequisites for a successful and self-sustainable enterprise. Self-sustainable systems must be autopoietic, i.e., self-producing. They must be capable of producing themselves, not only of producing something else. Employees, managers and community stakeholders are striving to create a self-sustaining organizational milieu by pursuing decisional autonomy, self-management and shared participatory ownership. Like biological “amoebas”, they should adapt to the ever changing circumstances in terms of size, shape, function and interaction.

Keywords: Sustainability, self-sustainability, autopoiesis, self-production, self-management, self-service

DOI: 10.3233/HSM-1997-16403

Journal: Human Systems Management, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 251-262, 1997